436 HISTORY OF 



tlie cover had been polished, but was without figure or inscrip- 

 tion : within this tomb was placed a leaden coffin, four feet 

 seven inches long, fourteen inches broad, and fifteen high. It 

 was not made coffin-fashion, but oblong, like a box, equally broad 

 at both ends, and covered with a lid that fitted on like a snuff- 

 box, without a hinge. This cover had two holes in it, each of 

 about two inches long, and very narrow, filled with a substance 

 resembling butter ; but for what purpose intended remains un- 

 known. Within this coffin was a mummy, in the highest and 

 most perfect preservation. The internal sides of the coffin were 

 filled with an aromatic substance, mingled with clay. Round 

 the mummy was wrapped a coarse cloth, in form of a napkin ; 

 under this were tv/o shirts, or shrouds, of the most exquisite 

 texture ; beneath these a bandage, which covered all parts of the 

 body, like an infant in swaddling-clothes ; still under this gene- 

 ral bandage there was another, which went particularly round 

 the extremities, the hands, and the legs. Tlie head was covered 

 M'ith two caps ; the feet and hands were without any particular 

 bandages ; and the whole body was covered with an aromatic 

 substance an inch thick. When these were removed, and the 

 body exposed naked to view, nothing could be more astonishing 

 than the preservation of the whole, and the exact resemblance it 

 bore to a body that had been dead a day or two before. It ap- 

 peared well proportioned, except that the head was rather large, 

 and the feet small. The skin had all the pliancy and colour of 

 a body lately dead : the visage, however, was of a brownish hue. 

 The belly yielded to the touch ; all the joints were flexible, ex- 

 cept those of the legs and feet ; the fingers stretched forth of 

 themselves when bent inwards. The nails still continued entire; 

 and all the marks of the joints, botli in the fingers, the palms of 

 the hands, and the soles of the feet, remained perfectly visible. 

 The bones of the arms and legs were soft and pliant ; but, on 

 the contrary, those of the skull preserved their rigidity ; the hair, 

 which only covered the back of the head, was of a chesnut 

 eoldur, and about two inches long. The pericranium at top was 

 separated from the skull by an incision, in order to open it for 

 the introducing proper aromatics in the place of the brain, where 

 they were found mixed with clay. The teeth, the tongue, and 

 the ears, were all preserved in perfect form. The intestines 

 were not taken out of the body, but remained pliant and entire, 



